Author's note: thanks to everyone who has reviewed and I don't own yu-gi-oh!

Mokuba just about drove Seto absolutely insane in the days before Tamara and Jake were supposed to arrive. Finally the older brother got so sick of hearing about them that he actually bent far enough to give Mokuba one of his credit cards and told him to go bother the geek squad for a while.

Ten minutes later he bolted out of the room after his brother, suddenly remembering exactly how much money was on that particular card…

The geek squad, who had been rather forcefully arguing about something with his brother, suddenly stopped and looked up in surprise when Seto strode though the lobby towards them.

"Hi Kaiba!" Yugi called. "Were you going to join us?"

Seto stopped in his tracks, thinking. His first response was to say no and make Mokuba follow him, but on the other hand…

He did give Mokuba the card… but if he just followed along just to keep an eye on what was being bought…

It was, to his mind at least, an acceptable compromise.

"I might as well, considering that I gave Mokuba one of my credit cards." He snarled, making it seem like it was a big deal, after all, he had appearances to keep.

Mokuba grinned and rolled his eyes. "Don't blame me if you shoved it in my hand without looking at the credit card first."

Seto just growled. "I don't suppose you won't just give it back to me so I can give you a different one, will you?"

"Sorry, no can do. If you want to know what I buy with it, then you'd better come along or just wait for the credit card bill." Came the sass filled answer.

The others were watching this as though it was a tennis match, turning their heads first towards one Kaiba brother, than the other.

"Fine, I'll come." The older brother snarled in defeat, secretly grateful for this unlooked for opportunity to find out more about these two strangers who had somehow made themselves very important in his younger brother's life.

"Cool." Was all Mokuba replied before continuing the conversation his bother had interrupted. "Do we even know where they are staying? Unicorn didn't mention it in her letter."

"Jake did." Yugi replied, pulling a thick envelope and holding it up for the others to see. "I like writing to them both, so I get twice the mail." He grinned at Mokuba's look of surprise. "Well, what else did you think I was spending my dueling money on?"

Picking his jaw up off the floor, Mokuba lightly plucked the letter out of Yugi's hand and scanned it quickly. "Drat! Have those two finally lost their marbles! I can't believe this! Seven hundred and eighty dollars a month for rent!"

Before he could say anything else on the matter, Seto reached down and took the letter from his brother, then he looked at Yugi. "May I?"

"Yes, I think you would find it interesting." Yugi replied with a nod, his face for once completely without expression.

In all the years of dueling Yugi Mutou (AN: I can't spell it, and I don't know the Japanese names), Seto Kaiba had never once seen that look on his face before. Something told him that the contents of the letter were going to be very interesting and informative.

Giving himself a mental shake and ignoring the hostile glares of the others, he started to read:

Dear Yugi,

Thank you so much for the last letter. Sorry I waited so long to reply. I'm cutting the timing on this one kind of short, but I've just been though one mess after another lately. At I write this it's 2 AM and my twin's curled up next to me on the motel couch sleeping soundly for the first time since this whole fiasco started. She's missed me as much as I've missed her.

From what you tell me Seto Kaiba sounds completely wrapped up in the corporation that his stepfather has left for him, no wonder my sister tries so hard to make her letters as long as possible (I swear, the last letter Tam sent to Mokuba must have needed four stamps!). To answer your question, the older brother has never tried to contact us in any way, I would be surprised if he even knew of Tamara's letters to Mokuba.

It's odd really, I honestly thought that when Drake died five years ago (privately I think that the shock left by Gozaburo's death was what killed him) that Seto Kaiba would be knocking down our door in his haste to either consummate or annul the contract had been made by our fathers.

Now Yugi, I will be the first to admit that while I might be a better duelist than my sister (though I've let her win a few to boost her confidence, though I would ask you please not to tell her that, as it really isn't her fault the duel disk system doesn't like her!), I know that if I went up against either you or Seto Kaiba I'd get my ass very soundly kicked! However, if Kaiba thought he was going to marry my sister unwilling, he would have had to go though me first!

As it stands, we have neither seen nor heard from him. Granted, I may have had my hands full trying to run this great mammoth of a company, and believe me when I say that I am so thankful for Tamara's help that if she'd let me, I would have willingly put her on the payroll! Even so, I can still see that our return is worrying her.

Don't take it personal Yugi! She says she can't wait to finally meet all of you (neither can I!), and if you mention Mokuba's name she bounces off the walls in excitement, but I think getting this close to the older brother after all this time scares the shit out of her.

I know, cause I'm scared too.

It sounds dumb, and I know that, but five years is a long time to wait. We are both eighteen now but this demented devil's deal of our father's has made us both older than we wish to be. Please Yugi, If Seto Kaiba somehow gets a hold of his brother's letter, get word to us.

One way or another, this has to end, and it won't be by being blind.

Hope to see you soon!

Jake

Seto's blood ran like cold ice in his veins. They were really scared… This wasn't a joke. He remembered all too well what it had been like to be manipulated by his stepfather Gozaburo.

No one deserved that, no matter what.

Taking a deep breath, he handed the letter back to Yugi with a nod.

The Kaiba brothers decided to take everyone for a ride in the limousine just to save time, but while everyone else stampeded outside, Seto and Yugi both hung back a bit.

"Why did you show me that?" he asked calmly, not knowing what to think.

"You needed to know what you were dealing with." Yugi replied, his hands jammed into his pockets.

Seto stopped abruptly to shoot a sharp look at his dueling enemy. "What makes you care about these two so much?"

Yugi just gave him a flat stare. "Jake has told me a little, very little, about their childhood. Tamara tells me even less, she just skips around it. What I've heard I don't like, and my gut tells me that if I ever hear the full story my nonviolent ways will go up in smoke. Like it or not, you are involved in this and you deserved to know what was going on seeing as your Mokuba's older brother."

The older Kaiba stared sightlessly at the door, trying not to let his jaw drop to the floor like an idiot. To hear Yugi Mutou actually threaten physical violence against anyone was a near miracle and a very clear warning!

Visibly shaking himself, Yugi changed the subject. "Let's go before they think that we've tried to kill each other again."

Surprised and confused, Seto Kaiba followed Yugi out to the limo, ignoring the stares by the others.

Gritting his teeth twenty minutes later, he was seriously reconsidering his decision when they got to their destination.

Of all the places, why did it have to be the mall?

Still, the older brother kept his mouth shut as Mokuba pulled him along.

"Let's split up into pairs so that we can cover more ground that way." Mai suggested. "That way the boys don't waste the time drooling over Duel Monster cards."

The boys in the group protested in defense of their injured pride, but the girls paid them no heed.

"Mokuba, give me Kaiba's cell number so that we can keep track of each other in this madhouse." Serenity walked over with her phone extended. Before the older one could say what he really thought about this, his brother had already given Serenity the cell phone and was punching their number into hers.

"Thanks Serenity!" Mokuba grinned as they gave the phones back.

Serenity laughed and grinned before heading off to get lost in the crowd.

"It's just you and me now Seto! Where should we go first?"

As Seto could already start to feel a tension headache coming on, he named the first place he could think of. "Let's try the bookstore."

"Neat! Tamara loves books the way you and Yugi love Duel Monsters! I knew you were developing a soft spot for the Unicorn!"

Kaiba highly doubted that, but he was pleased that his choice appeared to make Mokuba so happy. To avoid any arguments, he allowed himself to be pulled though the crowd so that he wouldn't get his arm pulled off.

There was no one else in the bookstore that Mokuba led them to. When the younger brother let go of his hand to browse, Seto jammed his hands in his pockets. His lip curled slightly as he blindly scanned one of the displays.

"What does Tamara like anyway?" Seto asked his brother, trying to keep his voice neutral so he didn't upset him.

"She loves to write so journals and notebooks are a good pick. Bookmarks are cool too, cause she's forever running out of those. Don't try to get her any books unless you get a list from her, cause chances are pretty good that any books you buy are going to be ones she already has, the same goes for music." Mokuba replied

"Diverse interests?"

"Jake can barely keep up. He's just thankful she's currently more interested in the duel disk than she is in the game it's used for."

Seto raised his eyebrow. "If she doesn't play the game, then what could she possibly want with a duel disk?"

Mokuba shrugged. "I don't know, you can ask if you want since it's really none of my business. The duel disks were your invention, not mine. Maybe she wants to adapt them for some kind of school project or something."

"If she does, she'll be looking at a sky high lawsuit." Seto replied, not bothering to hide the smirk that spread across his face at the very thought.

Mokuba declined to comment on this and instead wandered over to the counter to take a closer look at something that had caught his eye.

Seto frowned then decided that he had better pick something out before his brother got upset. It wouldn't have been the first time that he had faked something he did not feel for his brother's sake after all.

"Hey Mokuba, what does Jake do?' he asked as a sudden thought hit him.

"Jake's a lot like you actually Seto, he had ran his father's company for about five years now, but I don't think he likes it much. He loves to draw and paint stuff. I have learned some great lessons from both of them." Mokuba took a quick peek over his shoulder before paying for (in cash) and pocketing a small boxed deck of cards. "Seto, if you pick out a few journals for them, I'll pick out two books for you that I know for a fact that they don't have yet."

"What are you going to give them then?" Seto asked, turning to look at his brother in surprise.

"I would rather leave that as a surprise for now. Just in case." Mokuba answered as he headed back among the shelves.

Curbing his impatience, he made a show of carefully picking out four of the nicest journals they had, two for writing and two for drawing. Mokuba smiled and handed him two thick hardcover books. Relieved that his part in this was over, Seto said nothing as Mokuba used the credit card to pay for the items.

About a half an hour later, they all met up again at the same spot they had split up. Joey in particular was looking very smug about whatever it was that he had bought. This annoyed Seto, but no amount of verbal taunting would make Joey reveal what his present was.

"I think that we're all set for their return." Yugi said as he stretched when they got back to Kaiba Corp.

"I hope so, I can't wait to see them again!" Mokuba agreed. "See you guys in two days!" Without waiting for an answer he quickly followed his brother inside.

All the while, a secret was burning in his pocket, and his heart.